April 8, 2008

The full 2008 Schedule is up on the Orlando Sentinel's site. (ht - Blutarsky). As much as the media and our own fans have been playing up the difficulty of our schedule, one fact seems to have gone unnoticed. No UGA opponent will have a full bye week before playing the Bulldogs in 2008.

Opponent's game prior to match-up with UGA:

Week 1: GSU -- n/a

Week 2: Central Michigan -- The Fighting Middle Men (I prefer that nickname to Chippewa or however you spell it) will play Eastern Illinois at home before coming to Athens.

Week 3: at South Carolina -- The Gamecocks get a two day head start in prepping for the Dawgs as they play Vanderbilt the Thursday before the UGA game.

Week 4: at Arizona State -- They face UNLV at home before playing us. (Image: Click to enlarge and then laugh...3.5 hours to tailgate. lol*)

Week 5: Alabama -- The Crimson Tide plays Arkansas in Fayetteville the week before us. Houston Nutt coached teams and their punishing ground game used to softened up teams for their next opponent. It's doubtful that Petrino's squad will be beating Bama up much, but at least it's an SEC game.

Week 6: IDLE

Week 7: Tennessee -- Last year, the Vols had an off-week before playing the Dawgs. They used it to get pissed off, healthy and much less stupid. Subsequently, they beat the unshirted hell out of us. This year, they get Northern Illinois and we get the bye week. I still think this is a blackout game. We should be ready.

Week 8: Vanderbilt -- The Dores travel to Starkville to face the Bizarro Dawgs prior to playing us.

Week 9: at LSU -- The Tigers will play South Carolina in Columbia before we tangle in Baton Rouge. (Image: LSU fan in training)

Week 10: Florida (Jax) -- The Gators face Kentucky in the Swamp. Many UGA fans point to the need for a bye week before this game. I could care less as long as the Gators don't get one, either.

Week 11: at Kentucky -- The Wildcats will get a banged up Georgia team coming off two extremely physical match-ups away from Athens. The prior week, the Cats face Miss State in Starkville.

Week 12: at Auburn -- The Tigers get UT-Martin prior to facing Georgia. Last year, they demolished Tennessee Tech before the UGA game. They looked to be coming into our contest rested and finely tuned. Then came the Black Out, the Interceptions, the Soulja Boy and the shame.

Week 13: IDLE

Week 14: Georgia Tech -- We face the Nerds on Nov. 29th. That's 41 days after our last home game vs. Vandy! After traveling 3,164 miles in 23 days, the Dawgs will need the two weeks to rest and get ready for the triple option. The Nerds get the Miami Hurricanes at home before playing us. However, they catch a break with the Cane game on a Thursday. That gives them an extra two days to prep for us.

In 2007, I think that the Vols were the only SEC squad to have a bye-week before playing us. In 2006, it was the Gators who rested before playing us.

Alabama is a game immediately following what we all hope will be an exhibition of SEC speed on the west coast. Think of this game as UT following LSU in '04.

Vandy is now a team to respect when taking the field even though they still haven't found a bowl since The Bear was drinking milk for breakfast. With it being before LSU, we could potentially look past the 'Dores and create a whole bunch of mess for ourselves.

GT, well let me just say that there's no way Tech has our talent, our coaching, or even our fan base. What they do have is an entire season to think about beating us. I haven't smoked enough opium to think they're better. I just know how tough teams can be when they play with nothing to lose. We will see that GT team in Sanford for sure. But I still think we'll win.

I see that no team has an off-week before games with us, but no team has a really difficult game before playing us either. We play ASU the week before BAMA, LSU in Baton Rouge before the cocktail party, then two more away games in Lexington and Auburn. This has got to be hands down the toughest schedule ever assembled, not just for the teams on the schedule but for how they are aligned as well.

It's a tough one, no doubt. The part that particularly troubles me is the LSU-Florida-Kentucky-Auburn gauntlet we have to run away from Athens. The lack of opponents' off weeks is good, though, and can only help.

Speaking of off weeks, is it just me, or is it unusual that we have 2 of them this time? I'm sure we'll need both.

I nevertheless feel pretty good about the Dawgs making a solid run through this schedule if they remain healthy. One thing about the schedule: there shouldn't be any arguments about being in the title game if we make it through unscathed, or probably even with 1 loss.

I would rather lose to Vandy then ASU. The SEC needs to win their non conference games this year. Auburn at WVU, Tenn at UCLA, Bama vs Clemson, USC vs Clemson, UGA at ASU, it would also me great if Arky could upset texas